Individual Factors on Ethical Decision Making by Tax
Consultants in Bali
Cok Istri Ratna Sari Dewi
1*
, Luh Putu Lusi Setyandarini Surya
2
, Cokorda Krisna
Yudha
3
Universitas Warmadewa, Denpasar-Bali, Indonesia
{coknanaa@gmail.com
1
, lusisurya160@gmail.com
2
, yudhacokkrisna@gmail.com
3
}
Abstract. This study aims to determine the effect of idealism, professional commitment,
and religiosity on tax consultant ethical decision-making. Tax consultants are often faced
with ethical dilemmas that are influenced by individual factors, where they have to make
a decision that is against the tax law and to comply clients' demands to maintain the
sustainability of their business. This causes the tax consultant to consider an ethical
decision to end the dilemmas. This study used 143 tax consultants who are certified and
registered at Ikatan Konsultan Pajak Indonesia (IKPI) in Bali Branch as the research
sample. The sample was determined using simple random sampling method. The data
were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that
idealism, professional commitment, and religiosity has positive impact on ethical
decision making by tax consultants in Bali.
Keywords: Ethical decision making; idealism; professional commitment; religiosity; tax
consultant
1 Introduction
A tax is a compulsory charge imposed by the government and contributed by individual or
corporate taxpayers without any expectation of direct return in benefit. Revenue from the tax
sector is one of the highest sources of revenue in Indonesia, which is used to fund central and
regional developments, such as education, developing public facilities, providing health care
services and other state budget purposes. The tax revenues ratio in Indonesia decreased by
11,5 percent in 2018 to 10,7 percent in 2019 [1]. This phenomenon shows that the level of
taxpayer compliance in fulfilling their tax obligations is still insufficient. Various efforts have
been made by the government in increasing the realization of tax revenues, such as by
implementing a self-assessment system. Self-assessment system is a tax system that gives
taxpayers the authority to calculate, deposit and report the correct amount of tax from the
income they have earned during a tax period or tax year. It can be said that the taxpayer can
determine the amount of tax owed by themselves. The implementation of the self-assessment
system in Indonesia has not been going well because it is difficult to implement the system
from what have been expected and it is often misused by others [2],[3]. Complicated tax laws
and regulations which continuously updated from time to time caused taxpayers encounter
difficulties in keeping up with the tax regulations developments, including fulfilling their tax
obligations that makes the role of a tax consultant is often indispensable. A tax consultant is a
WARDS 2020, December 21, Indonesia
Copyright © 2021 EAI
DOI 10.4108/eai.21-12-2020.2305830